PE dams just over a third full

2011-01-17 13:33

Port Elizabeth - Dams supplying water to the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality in the Eastern Cape are on average just over a third full, the municipality said on Monday.

The Kouga Dam, which supplies irrigation water to the Kouga and Gamtoos valleys, as well as drinking water to Port Elizabeth, was at 37.8% of capacity, after 0.4mm of rain fell over the past three days.

The Churchill Dam, near Kareedouw, was at 36% after 6.2 mm of rain and the Impofu Dam, near Humansdorp, was at 26.1% after 1mm of rain.

The Loerie Dam, near Hankey, was at 51.9% after 8 mm of rain; and the Groendal Dam, near Uitenhage, was at 65.4% after 1 mm of rain.

The total volume of water currently available was 96 752 megalitres, it said.

Comments

Christo - 2011-01-17 14:09

Meanwhile, up north, we're drowning :P

steven - 2011-01-17 14:17

lol, indeed

Joe_Public - 2011-01-17 14:37

Job creation tip #42073: Build more dams.
Keep up with the times govt. It's clear that weather patterns have changed. Or do you think a rain dance will solve the problem?

watalife - 2011-01-17 14:39

have a great big new soccer stadium but no pipe line feeding off the gariep dam system. Lets face it we are all fucked without water. The old saying has it, if you dont like somebody just cut the water & Lights.

croix - 2011-02-14 10:50

Please remember the MASSIVE debt write-off for the useless Cuban govt. This could have easily paid for extending the pipeline from Gariep dam which would've solved most of this area's water emergency. What the govt is thinking (if at all) most times is a total mystery. Shame.

jogesig - 2011-01-17 15:40

And I cant get to work in the morning because of flooding in Gauteng :/

Nice Guy - 2011-01-17 17:16

Its because we keep calling it PE. If we called it Port Elizabeth the damns would also be full instead of short. Imagine calling Pretoria "P". Mind u Joburg should be half full as well. Maybe we should call Vaal Damn the V and then there will be less flooding. As you can imagine this theory is based on deep scientific analysis

brown_bread - 2011-01-17 17:24

I live right in front of the Kouga Dam, literally 10 minutes walk. When I got here last year January, it was 59%, ever since it has been declining. Its very dry and there are huge restrictions. We are working on projects aiming at restoration of the catchment areas around, so its good to see this ind of news going out as people dont seem to know much abouth their basic needs sources. Plans for payments schemes are being investigated, so that they can be invested into stabilizing the water balance, and realizing baseflows. Meanwhile indeed, the north is being flooded.

FastJan - 2011-02-14 10:08

Drove last week from PE to the North West. Really strange seeing the PE outskirts all brown and the Klein Karoo all green??? PE's become like a little desert and the only thing left to drink in any decent quantity is cold beer!
On the other hand, things could be worse - the beer could dry up!

besh - 2011-02-14 11:10

Thanx Lord ...PRESERVR PRESERVE NOW !- fix the taps ,don't wash cars ...desalination is expensive... most of all do not go to the toilet unnecessarily.